Perjury

My wife has filed a divorce petition. She is claiming in her petition that her income is zero, and sought interim maintenance. I have been to obtain copies of her Income Tax Returns which show that her income is in lacs of rupees for each of the last four years. So, obviously she is lying under oath in her petition.
Can I file a case against her for perjury and get her punished for lying under oath, as I have documentary evidence to prove that she is lying about her income and misleading the court to order interim maintenance in her favor. The court has not yet held any hearing on her interim maintenace application.

Asked 2 years ago in Family Law from Canada

Religion: Hindu

Hi, as per section 191 of the Indian Penal Code it clearly says that who has given false evidence on oath is punishable under section 191 of the Indian Penal Code.
2. In order to establish before the court that she has giving false evidence you have to produce income tax returns in family court and also file a complaint in Magistrate court as your wife is giving false evidence on oath.
3. You have good case on merits as there is a documentary proof for giving false evidence before the court.

1. Yes, do file petition u/s 340 crpc.
2. In your objection apply for dismissal of her case for maintenance as well.
3. Ask the court to decide on the perjury application first before disposing of the interim petition.

Produce her Income Tax Returns of the last four years to the court and request the judge to dismiss her petition for maintenance and also request the court to take action against her for misleading the court about her income.

1)Under section 191 of IPC, an affidavit is evidence and a person swearing to a false affidavit is guilty of perjury punishable under Section 193 IPC which prescribes the period of punishment as seven years imprisonment. However, action against making a false statement should be initiated during the trial itself, and not at the end of it which may take a long time
2) (2004)7 SCC 166 para 13
“As a general rule, suppression of a material fact by a litigant disqualifies such litigant from obtaining any relief. This rule has been evolved out of the need of the Courts to deter a litigant from abusing the process of Court by deceiving it. But the suppressed fact must be a material one in the sense that had it not been suppressed it would have had an effect on the merits of the case…”

bring this fact before the court and plead for dismissal of her application. Court if found that there is misleading then court itself initiate proceeding against her. Court is empowered under section 195 crpc to initiate penal steps against applicant.

Bidya chanran vs Anupam R.V. AIR 2004 Sc; held by the supreme court that if applicant found guilty of misleading the court or claim any relief on false ground then court is empowered to impose fine up to rs 50000 u/s 95 CPC and initiate proceeding u/s/ 196 crpc

This is a fit case for perjury. She has evidently played fraud on court, she can betaken to task. There are plenty of such examples where court has taken action against such fraudsters.Recently in Pune family court there was a perjury case on the same lines.The details are given below for your information:
Family court orders FIR against software engineer who lied under oath of being a homemaker to secure maintenance from husband In a rare order that could have a bearing on hundreds of cases related to marital dispute, a 33-yearold software engineer from the city's Maharshi Nagar area — who lied under oath to receive maintenance from her estranged husband — will have to face a major penalty for 'perjury'. Pune family court judge P L Palshingkar ordered the court administration to file an FIR against her recently. For, despite earning more than Rs 9 lakh per annum, she had informed the court that she was a homemaker and, therefore, liable to get alimony. The court had earlier ordered the husband to pay her Rs 8,000 per month as alimony. When the husband (37), who is also a techie, came to know about it, he complained to the court with evidences like her salary slip and CTC figure. Palshingkar noted that there was enough evidence against the woman to prosecute her and directed the court's deputy registrar to file a complaint under sections 191 and 193 of the IPC for concealing her monthly income even as she sought maintenance from her husband. If convicted, she faces a jail term of up to three years, apart from a fine.
Can I file a case against her for perjury and get her punished for lying under oath, as I have documentary evidence to prove that she is lying about her income and misleading the court to order interim maintenance in her favor. The court has not yet held any hearing on her interim maintenace application.
You can very well file a perjury case against her,but you may wait until she deposes evidence on oath before court after which she cannot escape.

A similar matter with reference to your issue was reported in the Pune Mirror dated 6 Sep 2015 under he heading: Unemployment lie for alimony slaps perjury on woman
You can view the full contents from the link provided below:
http://www.punemirror.in/pune/civic/Unemployment-lie-for-alimony-slaps-perjury-on-woman/articleshow/48840099.cms.
Further information to your query is given below:
Perjury should be filed U/S 340 CrPC read with 195 CrPC.
Perjury should be filed in the same courts where civil / criminal cases is going on respectively.
Whenever an application under Section 340 of Code of Criminal Procedure is filed, the Civil Manual Chapter XIX para 337 requires that it should be registered as Miscellaneous Judicial Case i.e. a case where a Judicial Enquiry is contemplated. The learned Civil Judge should have, therefore, directed the application to be registered as Miscellaneous Judicial Case.
So whenever an application is made u/s 340 CrPC read with 195 CrPC based on contradictory points the court must enter into an enquiry registering the case as per Civil Manual Chapter XIX para 337 as a Miscellaneous Judicial Case.
If it is found in that enquiry that the offences are punishable as per IPCs mentioned in CrPC 195, the court must take cognizance accordingly.
Hope the above information was useful.

1. When did she file the petition?
2. Does the I.T. Return, copy of which has been collected by you, pertains to the period when she had filed the petition?
3. If not then she might claim that she had the income which she mentioned in her I.T.Return but currently she is unemployed,
4. So, act judiciously and your first attempt should be to get her maintenance petition rejected.

immediately file a criminal complaint u/s 340 of Cr.P.C. before the court where the matter is pending.
apart from this you may also file a criminal complaint regarding the same before magistrate court who has the jurisdiction to tried and decide the same.
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